| Job Title | Specialist Dietitian |
| Pay Band | Band 6 |
| Location | RLH or SBH |
| Reports to | Clinical Lead for Dietetics –RLH or SBH |
| Responsible to | Deputy Head of Therapies & Professional Lead for Dietetics |
To provide a clinical dietetic service at Band 6 level to patients at The Royal London Hospital and include providing an effective, flexible nutritional support service to a variety of specialist services along with general medicine and surgery.
The suitable candidate will have strong skills in nutrition support including experience with managing complex enteral feeding patients and ideally those requiring parenteral nutrition also.
Experience in one of the following specialties would be highly desirable: Critical care/ Gastroenterology/ Renal.
- Key Working Relationships
| Internal | External |
| All Dietitians & Support Workers within Barts Health | Community services including Dietitians, GPs, District Nursing |
| Clinical Nurse Specialist for Nutrition | Homecare companies |
| Catering services | |
| Relevant Consultants | |
| Nursing teams, including specialist nurses | |
Key result areas
Effective working in this role requires the ability:
- To be responsible for the allocated caseload and provide cover to other clinical areas as required.
- To ensure that research and audit is undertaken on a regular basis to ensure that practice is evidence based.
Professional / Clinical responsibilities:
- To be professionally and legally accountable for all aspects of own work including the management of patients in your care.
- To undertake a comprehensive assessment of patients including those with diverse or complex presentations/multi pathologies using advanced clinical reasoning skills particularly in specialist field as well as other specialties as designated by the manager. This may include the use of complex calculations and/or anthropometric/other equipment.
- Formulate and deliver an individual nutrition and dietetic treatment based on a sound knowledge of evidence based practice and treatment options using clinical assessment, reasoning skills and analysis of biochemical results. To be responsible for providing specialised advice to clients within particular specialities including nutritional assessment, dietary counselling, motivational interviewing, negotiating targets, developing care plans and communicating these with relevant health and other care agencies. This may be on a one to one basis or to groups, both in an in and out-patient setting.
- Assess patient understanding of treatment proposals, gain valid informed consent and have the capacity to work within a legal framework with patients who lack capacity to consent to treatment
- To attend and contribute to relevant departmental meetings and continued professional development meetings i.e. presenting at audit, journal club and clinical supervision. This may include the supervision of Band 3 or Band 5 dietetic staff.
- Use a range of verbal and non-verbal communication tools to communicate effectively with patients and carers where there may be barriers to communication. For example, patients may be dysphasic, depressed, deaf, blind, unable to accept diagnosis or whose first language is not English. This may include the use of an advocacy service
- To provide nutrition counselling, evaluate patient progress, reassess and alter intervention if required.
- To manage patients with challenging behaviours by the application of appropriate management strategies such a cognitive behaviour therapy.
- To work at all times within the Professional code of conduct as stipulated by the Health Professions Council
For any addittional inforation, please do not hesitate to contact katy.szkuta@bankpartners.co.uk
Bank Partners is an employment agency/employment business (as defined by the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003) and is acting on behalf of its client in relation to this vacancy.